Below you’ll find Little Red Hen activities that are great for extending a favorite book with your students. Add these ideas to your fall activities for preschoolers, your next farm theme, or just keep them in mind next time you read the story.
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I love reading The Little Red Hen classic stories with my preschoolers and my son! It has some predictable text, tells a relatable story, and you can easily encourage the kids to interact with the plot.
Plus, there are so many different versions of this story out now! This adds more depth to a Little Red Hen theme, as you can have the kids compare and contrast the various versions.
Little Red Hen Activities
Because the kids and I enjoy this story so much, I put together a collection of activities inspired by the well-loved book. Let’s jump in!
My Favorite Little Red Hen Ideas
These Little Red Hen activities are my favorite because my students and I have tested them out. In fact, some of my students even helped me come up with the ideas. I have to admit, I love rolling with the kids’ ideas and interests to create something new.
Related: Harvest Wheat Play Dough Recipe
The Little Red Hen Sensory Bin – Create a sensory bin all about the story! Fill it with “wheat” seeds and stalks, along with the different characters. Then let the children explore to their hearts’ content.
Little Red Hen Small World Play – Encourage children to retell the story or make up their own versions! I especially love that you can really use the props you already have on-hand.
The Little Red Hen Retelling with Sensory Play – Lead the kiddos in retelling The Little Red Hen using sensory materials for a very hands-on activity. The first time I tried this with my preschoolers, they had such a blast! So much so that they asked to do it each and every day for more than a week.
Child-Made Bulletin Board – Work together to create a large storyboard focused on what happened in the book. Children can help write about the story, as well as create the characters for the board.
More Little Red Hen Preschool Activities
Of course, I had to gather even more ideas for your next Little Red Hen theme!
Little Red Hen Printable Picture Recipes from Pre-K Pages – Make different snacks based on different versions of The Little Red Hen! Use these free printables to engage kids in the process.
Easy Bread Recipe for Kids from Here Come the Girls – You can’t have a collection of Little Red Hen activities without baking bread, right? Hopefully the children will share what they make!
Paper Plate Little Red Hen from Glued to My Crafts – Grab a paper plate to make the Little Red Hen! Perfect for acting out the story with friends.
Little Red Hen Shape Craft from Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kids work on shapes and fine motor skills while creating their own version of the main character.
Sentence Building and Sight Words with The Little Red Hen from Still Playing School – Work on important early literacy concepts during a retelling of the book.
Make a Chicken Headband from Kid’s Creative Chaos – Make some headbands so the kiddos can act out the story together!
Little Red Hen Hand Print Art from Fun Handprint Art – Let the children use their hands as the hen as they create their own art based on the book.
The Little Red Hen Retell Center from Kindergarten Works – Put together a center based on retelling the book. This would work well both at home and in the classroom.
The Little Red Hen Wall Collage from Artsy Craftsy Mom – Encourage kids to create their own multimedia artwork based on The Little Red Hen.
Wheat Stalk Fork Painting from 3 Dinosaurs – Help kiddos create wheat field art while discussing the story’s setting.
Which of these Little Red Hen activities are you going to try first?
The Little Red Hen Books
As I mentioned earlier, there are many different versions of The Little Red Hen. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy teaching a unit on this book. I LOVE the conversations I’ve had with the kids when comparing and contrasting different versions.
Here are a few you should pair with your own Little Red Hen activities. Feel free to share more titles in the comments below!
Preschool Lesson Plans
Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week, all while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life, can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!
If your students loved the Little Red Hen activities, you need to check out our set of fully-developed lesson plans based on the story. There are book recommendations, weekly plans, detailed daily plans, and coordinating printables. Check it out below.
You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Originally published August 2015.
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